Departure(s)

I grabbed a copy of this book as soon as it came out because Barnes said it is going to be his final one. I actually bought the hardcover and they used this really nice muted color for the dust jacket which fits the sad vibe perfectly. The narrator is a writer who is also named Julian and he is dealing with a blood cancer diagnosis that he can manage but never cure. He just sits there and reflects on his whole life and the wife he lost.

The main plot is really about these two friends of his named Stephen and Jean. Julian played matchmaker for them when they were all at university back in the nineteen sixties. They fell in love and then they had a really messy breakup which made Julian feel insulted for some reason. The crazy part is that they find each other again forty years later and try to make it work a second time.

Barnes mixes his own real life with made up stuff so well that you never really know what is a true memory and what is just fiction. He actually promised his friends he would never write about them but he breaks that promise to give us this story. You can tell he is just tired and thinking a lot about death and what it all means. It is definitely a heavy read. There are some parts that are surprisingly funny but mostly it just makes you think about getting older and how your own body eventually turns against you.

I honestly felt pretty sad when I finished it. It feels exactly like sitting in a room with an old man who knows he is running out of time and just wants to get a few last things off his chest. If this really is his last book then it is a beautiful way to say goodbye to his readers.